10de:0405 [Asus M51Sn] Ctrl+Alt+F1 doesn't show virtual terminal

[Teo]

Normally, Ctrl+Alt+F1, Ctrl+Alt+F2, etc... would switch to a virtual terminal or console or whatever it is called.

Starting from recently, it only shows a black screen.

Ctrl+Alt+F7 switch back to xorg as expected.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: linux-image-3.2.0-26-generic 3.2.0-26.41
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-26.41-generic 3.2.19
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-26-generic i686
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24.
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu10
Architecture: i386
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: teo 2443 F.... pulseaudio
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xfebf8000 irq 49'
   Mixer name : 'Realtek ALC660-VD'
   Components : 'HDA:10ec0660,10430000,00100001 HDA:10573055,10431316,00100700'
   Controls : 28
   Simple ctrls : 16
Date: Fri Jun 22 11:59:58 2012
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=b1b3e5fe-38e2-44c9-9e48-4564cd9f4d66
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release i386 (20100429)
MachineType: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. M51Sn
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcFB:

ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-26-generic root=UUID=173acbf5-26a0-49e3-8d2b-f1c142582cbf ro quiet splash
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.2.0-26-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.2.0-26-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.79
SourcePackage: linux
StagingDrivers: zram
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2012-05-17 (35 days ago)
UserAsoundrc:
 pcm.!default { type pulse }
 ctl.!default { type pulse }
 pcm.pulse { type pulse }
 ctl.pulse { type pulse }
WifiSyslog:

dmi.bios.date: 12/24/2007
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 303
dmi.board.asset.tag: ATN12345678901234567
dmi.board.name: M51Sn
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
dmi.board.version: 1.0
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: ATN12345678901234567
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
dmi.chassis.version: 1.0
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr303:bd12/24/2007:svnASUSTeKComputerInc.:pnM51Sn:pvr1.0:rvnASUSTeKComputerInc.:rnM51Sn:rvr1.0:cvnASUSTeKComputerInc.:ct10:cvr1.0:
dmi.product.name: M51Sn
dmi.product.version: 1.0
dmi.sys.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

Would it be possible for you to test the latest upstream kernel? Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Please test the latest v3.5kernel[0] (Not a kernel in the daily directory) and install both the linux-image and linux-image-extra .deb packages.

Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-testing' tag(Only that one tag, please leave the other tags). This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon next to the tag located at the bottom of the bug description and deleting the 'needs-upstream-testing' text.

If this bug is fixed in the mainline kernel, please add the following tag 'kernel-fixed-upstream'.

If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the tag: 'kernel-bug-exists-upstream'.

If you are unable to test the mainline kernel, for example it will not boot, please add the tag: 'kernel-unable-to-test-upstream'.
Once testing of the upstream kernel is complete, please mark this bug as "Confirmed".

Thanks in advance.

[0] http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.5-rc3-quantal/

[markb (mark-blakeney)]

This bug has occurred for me since installing 12.04 (clean install). Has worked fine in all releases prior. I believe it is a bug with nvidia driver as virtual consoles work fine if I run nouveau. I have tried all nvidia drivers from v295.33 to v302.22 and the bug has existed with every one of those versions. Each time I switch back to nouveau, the virtual terminals work. I am using default kernel 3.2 but could upgrade to 3.5 if people really think it is kernel related?

[markb (mark-blakeney)]

Rebooted with kernel 3.5.0-4-generic and still no virtual consoles (using latest 302.22 nvidia). Actually this bug is all over the web for people with some nvidia chipsets, e.g. I have a 8600 GT which is of the family for which virtual consoles don't work. E.g. see http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-925156-postdays-0-postorder-asc-start-0.html.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for linux (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[Teo (teo1978)]

"importance medium" is wrong. This is critical. A virtual terminal can save you from a disaster.

Having access to a virtual terminal may allow to recover from a critical situation when something is preventing the graphical environment from functioning properly. It may allow you to kill some process that is hanging the system.

A few minutes ago, Unity suddenly stopped responding; the keyboard responded to ctrl+alt+f1, so if it wasn't because of this bug, I would have been able to log in from the virtual terminal and try to figure out what was blocking the whole system.

[James P Michels III (james-p-michels)]

I have to agree with the previous comment. Not being able to access the virtual terminal severely degrades ones ability to troubleshoot and recover from issues. It also seems to be a problem with no effective workaround.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

matteo sisti sette, as per http://support.asus.com/Download.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=M51Sn&p=3&s=119 an update is available for your BIOS (306). If you update to this following https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BiosUpdate , does it change anything? If it doesn't, could you please both specify what happened, and just provide the output of the following terminal command:
sudo dmidecode -s bios-version && sudo dmidecode -s bios-release-date

Please note your current BIOS is already in the Bug Description, so posting this on the old BIOS would not be helpful.

For more on BIOS updates and linux, please see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs#Bug_reporting_etiquette .

Thank you for your understanding.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for linux (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]